This invention relates to expandable endoprosthesis devices, generally called stents, which are adapted to be implanted into a patient""s body lumen, such as blood vessel, to maintain the patency thereof. These devices are very useful in the treatment of atherosclerotic stenosis in blood vessels.
Stents are generally tubular-shaped devices which function to hold open a segment of a blood vessel or other anatomical lumen. They are particularly suitable for use to support and hold back a dissected arterial lining which can occlude the fluid passageway therethrough.
Further details of prior art stents can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,956 (Alfidi et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,338 (Balko et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,545 (Maass et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 (Palmaz); U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,128 (Rosenbluth); U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,882 (Gianturco); U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,516 (Hillstead); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,062 (Wiktor), which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto.
Various means have been described to deliver and implant stents. One method frequently described for delivering a stent to a desired intraluminal location includes mounting the expandable stent on an expandable member, such as a balloon, provided on the distal end of an intravascular catheter, advancing the catheter to the desired location within the patient""s body lumen, inflating the balloon on the catheter to expand the stent into a permanent expanded condition and then deflating the balloon and removing the catheter. One of the difficulties encountered using prior stents involved maintaining the radial rigidity needed to hold open a body lumen while at the same time maintaining the longitudinal flexibility of the stent to facilitate its delivery.
What has been needed and heretofore unavailable is a stent which has a high degree of flexibility so that it can be advanced through tortuous passageways and can be readily expanded and yet have the mechanical strength to hold open the body lumen into which it expanded. The present invention satisfies this need.
The present invention is directed to an expandable stent which is relatively flexible along its longitudinal axis to facilitate delivery through tortuous body lumens, but which is stiff and stable enough radially in an expanded condition to maintain the patency of a body lumen such as an artery when implanted therein.
The stent of the invention generally includes a plurality of radially expandable cylindrical elements which are relatively independent in their ability to expand and to flex relative to one another. The individual radially expandable cylindrical elements of the stent are dimensioned so as to be longitudinally shorter than their own diameters. Interconnecting elements or struts extending between adjacent cylindrical elements provide increased stability and a preferable position to prevent warping of the stent upon the expansion thereof. The resulting stent structure is a series of radially expandable cylindrical elements which are spaced longitudinally close enough so that small dissections in the wall of a body lumen may be pressed back into position against the lumenal wall, but not so close as to compromise the longitudinal flexibilities of the stent. The individual cylindrical elements may rotate slightly relative to adjacent cylindrical elements without significant deformation, cumulatively giving a stent which is flexible along its length and about its longitudinal axis but is still very stiff in the radial direction in order to resist collapse.
The stent embodying features of the invention can be readily delivered to the desired lumenal location by mounting it on an expandable member of a delivery catheter, for example a balloon, and passing the catheter-stent assembly through the body lumen to the implantation site. A variety of means for securing the stent to the expandable member on the catheter for delivery to the desired location are available. It is presently preferred to compress the stent onto the balloon. Other means to secure the stent to the balloon include providing ridges or collars on the inflatable member to restrain lateral movement, or using bioresorbable temporary adhesives.
The presently preferred structure for the expandable cylindrical elements which form the stents of the present invention generally circumferential undulating pattern, e.g. serpentine. The transverse cross-section of the undulating component of the cylindrical element is relatively small and preferably has an aspect ratio of about two to one to about 0.5 to one. A one to one aspect ratio has been found particularly suitable. The open reticulated structure of the stent allows for the perfusion of blood over a large portion of the arterial wall which can improve the healing and repair of a damaged arterial lining.
The radial expansion of the expandable cylinder deforms the undulating pattern thereof similar to changes in a waveform which result from decreasing the waveform""s amplitude and the frequency. Preferably, the undulating patterns of the individual cylindrical structures are in phase with each other in order to prevent the contraction of the stent along its length when it is expanded. The cylindrical structures of the stent are plastically deformed when expanded (except with NiTi alloys) so that the stent will remain in the expanded condition and therefore they must be sufficiently rigid when expanded to prevent the collapse thereof in use. During expansion of the stent, portions of the undulating pattern will tip outwardly resulting in projecting members on the outer surface of the expanded stent. These projecting members tip radially outwardly from the outer surface of the stent and embed in the vessel wall and help secure the expanded stent so that it does not move once it is implanted.
With superelastic NiTi alloys, the expansion occurs when the stress of compression is removed so as to allow the phase transformation from austenite back to martensite and as a result the expansion of the stent.
The elongated elements which interconnect adjacent cylindrical elements should have a transverse cross-section similar to the transverse dimensions of the undulating components of the expandable cylindrical elements. The interconnecting elements may be formed in a unitary structure with the expandable cylindrical elements from the same intermediate product, such as a tubular element, or they may be formed independently and connected by suitable means, such as by welding or by mechanically securing the ends of the interconnecting elements to the ends of the expandable cylindrical elements. Preferably, all of the interconnecting elements of a stent are joined at either the peaks or the valleys of the undulating structure of the cylindrical elements which form the stent. In this manner there is no shortening of the stent upon expansion.
The number and location of elements interconnecting adjacent cylindrical elements can be varied in order to develop the desired longitudinal flexibility in the stent structure both in the unexpanded as well as the expanded condition. These properties are important to minimize alteration of the natural physiology of the body lumen into which the stent is implanted and to maintain the compliance of the body lumen which is internally supported by the stent. Generally, the greater the longitudinal flexibility of the stent, the easier and the more safely it can be delivered to the implantation site.
In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention the stent is conveniently and easily formed by coating stainless steel tubing with a material resistant to chemical etching, removing portions of the coating to expose portions of underlying tubing which are to be removed to develop the desired stent structure. The exposed portions of the tubing are removed by chemically etching from the tubing exterior leaving the coated portion of the tubing material in the desired pattern of the stent structure. The etching process develops smooth openings in the tubing wall without burrs or other artifacts which are characteristic of mechanical or laser machining processes in the small sized products contemplated. Moreover, a computer controlled laser patterning process to remove the chemical resistive coating makes photolithography technology adaptable to the manufacture of these small products. The forming of a mask in the extremely small sizes needed to make the small stents of the invention would be a most difficult task. A plurality of stents can be formed from one length of tubing by repeating the stent pattern and providing small webs or tabs to interconnect the stents. After the etching process, the stents can be separated by severing the small webs or tabs which connect them.